Catching up on Chihayafuru: Poems 161-165

Before I begin, a heads up: I managed to catch the two Chihayafuru films on the work trip that has helped delay this post by three weeks, so look forward to some reflections on them soon. For the moment, let’s just say that I was glad that I’d been reading William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screen Trade…

But for now, let’s take a look at a rematch that so many of us thought we were waiting for: Chihaya and Arata face off against each other…but the only person who would know what meaning the match has for them—Taichi—isn’t there.

Standing next to genius

We find Taichi still in Osaka, where the interviewers ask Suou and Shinobu about the relationship with the game. The two reveal to the world just how strange they are—Suou ‘hearing’ the different colours of the cards, and Shinobu with the little poets that speak to her from them. This is a blow for Taichi, who realises just how much Shinobu loves the cards, how much she loves karuta, that that’s the secret behind her strength: “Have I ever thought of the cards that dearly?” The realisation that he hasn’t sinks Taichi even deeper into despair. Suou points out that, even as a HS student, he’s confidently able to use his own money to travel alone by bullet train to Kyoto and other places.1 He observes that Taichi is ignoring many of his own strengths, but this seems to fall on deaf ears, especially as Mizusawa reaches the semi-finals despite their former president’s absence.

As he’s leaving to return to Tokyo, however, Taichi calls his mother to find that she’s at Omi Jingu, because that’s where she thought he would be. She lets it drop that Mizusawa lost the semis because he wasn’t there…and also that Chihaya is playing Arata. And Taichi jumps off the train at Kyoto, instead of continuing on to Tokyo…

The impact of Taichi’s absence

Tsuki mireba, the poem that is read next, is a song depicting a sad autumn moon. Is this a reminder that everyone there—Taichi included—is fighting their own demons?

Back at Omi Jingu, Arata is shocked at how Chihaya is playing. All of her attention is focused on her team, on following how their matches are going, and on winning her own match on their behalf. It didn’t really sink in for me before, but it also seems like she’s not even acknowledging her opponents. It’s especially shocking because it’s Arata she’s playing now; hasn’t she always wanted to play him again? Arata breaks down her game like he always does, and silently tells her that he’ll be playing as he always does. But it’s pretty painful to see that Chihaya doesn’t even look at him. She’s present only as the Mizusawa Captain, her eyes are only for the teammates playing in the match. The fact that the “Chiha” card is not on the field—and apparently hasn’t been for many of the matches since Chihaya returned to the team—seems symbolic in this regard. The Chihaya we know and have come to love has disappeared.

Was this presented in a positive way? I suspect that some readers might want to argue that it is, for Taichi’s absence has indeed forced Chihaya to pay more attention to the others in her team. However, I contend that this match in particular shows that it’s been taken too far. Although they are playing as a team, just like many other sports, karuta is also a game played against someone else. In trying to fill the hole that Taichi left, Chihaya has turned around and ignored the people sitting opposite to her. I remember when Harada admonished her for not respecting her opponent once; to me, the way she’s not even registering them here feels far worse. That she doesn’t notice Taichi showing up—when everyone else from Mizusawa did—drives home just how wrapped up she is in this person that she is convinced she has to be. More on this shortly.

Bringing Chihaya back

Thankfully, we see Taichi and Arata bring Chihaya back. The poems read in this sequence are quire interesting. First comes [Poem 82] (Omoi wabi), which sings of a lover’s cruelty. Poem 79 (Akikaze ni) follows, a clear, genuine poem about the autumn moon. It’s like a beacon—is this referring to Arata or Taichi? Or perhaps, is it referring to them both? Arata then takes the “Swift waters (Se)” poem, which he had wanted to get back from Chihaya ever since their very first match. Again this is symbolic, for the friends that went away and left her alone are both back. The changing momentum pulls Chihaya back slowly, though it seems that it is still not enough yet.

Finally, however, the reading of the Chiha poem pulls Chihaya out of her reverie. Looking up, she finally sees Taichi, and then recognises Arata; in her mind is the karuta match on that final afternoon together before the 12-year-old Arata returned to Fukui with his family. It is fitting that both of them are necessary to bring Chihaya back—it feels like a callback to Taichi’s thoughts from the Yoshino tournament match that “many things have made you who you are, right?” The next poem that is read backs up this change in tone: Poem 71 (Yuusareba), singing of autumn bringing a gentle wind knocking at the gate. Amusingly, Suetsugu makes a mistake here, in that we have Poem 79 (Akikaze ni) read for a second time in the match. Arata has taken five cards in a row…which I believe makes them even again. But he gives her the next card, saying that only cards taken cleanly are his. Chihaya smiles, and it seems like she’s truly back.

The Reunion

Awkward! After the matches are done, it was clear that the Mizusawa team doesn’t quite know how to approach Taichi. So Arata gets there first, letting out his frustration that Taichi had abandoned Chihaya, thus turning her into a different person, one who saw nothing but the team. Given his point about “the long-awaited national tournament,” I think that he might also be angry because Taichi had abandoned the team spirit that he himself had been envious of… It’s hard to tell, but even though Chihaya not being herself has been the overarching image since Taichi left, I really do feel that the concept of the ‘team’, and what being in a team means, is also important.2 More on this below.

Chihaya is upset that Taichi is late, for this was their last ever chance to play together on a team. Their summers are over—as I have mentioned elsewhere, the school year starts in spring, with the most important tournaments in summer. After their final summer, third years normally retire completely from their club activities in order to focus on the college entrance exams that they’ll be sitting towards the end of the school year (January through March). Another show I love, Sound! Euphonium, drives this home, too: there’s a certain reverence that teenagers place on the importance of the team during their high school years. You can also see it in a lot of other manga and anime about sports or other club activities—the kids want to be part of the passion, they want to devote themselves to the dream of being one of the select few playing at nationals, and they value working with their teammates to fulfil that. And here, what happened between Taichi and Chihaya ruined their last opportunity to breathe in that perfect, rarified atmosphere again.

Hokuo’s victory — the meaning of the “team”

Which brings me to the message I felt that Suetsugu was driving home with this tournament. Significantly, Taichi also arrives in time to see fate smile on another rival of his. The Fujisaki-Hokuo match is split evenly, and comes down to a ‘fatal game’ between Hyoro and Yoroshiko. When he finally notices Taichi, Hyoro is glad that he’d managed to stick to Yoroshiko until this point. Though exhausted to the point that all colour had been drained from him, the reading of Poem 15 (Kimi ga tame ha) sees Hokuo erupt in celebration, as they finally won the championship that has eluded them for the past two years. This winning poem is fitting for Hyoro, who has done so much for the sake of his team, and it was wonderful to see him rewarded with well-earned victory in the match on which the championship rested. I also loved seeing how Hokuo’s OBs welcomed “Miss Yukari” in their midsts, for in her tireless support of Hyoro, she was as much a part of the team as they were.

Hokuo’s victory makes it clear that this tournament was all about the concept of ‘the team’. For many years, Suetsugu has been pushing her characters and readers to ponder what they and we all value about karuta, and the team has always been at its centre. For the first national tournament, Chihaya and Taichi learned hard lessons about what teamwork was all about. In the second tournament, we saw Arata acknowledge that he has always wanted to know that spirit of camaraderie, and point out to Shinobu that teams are the foundations of this world that they love. At the last Yoshino tournament, Harada pointed out that the individual tournament is the real team game. And in this tournament, we watched over a number of teams as they struggled to reach the top as a group despite their own internal struggles.

In that regard, the contrast between Mizusawa and Fujioka East and the two teams who made it to the final was instructive. The strongest players were definitely Chihaya and Arata, but for different reasons, both were unable to draw their teams together fully. On the other hand, both Fujisaki and Hokuro fielded the weakest players that each had had in years, which forced them to focus on developing the team spirit to a much greater degree than we’d previously seen in them. But ultimately, despite the wonderful gains she’s made over the past year, Rion is left regretting that she didn’t spend all of her three years working hard with everyone else in the club. Though he’s always been a bit of an oddball, it was Hyoro who really came to the fore as a leader and team player this year. Thus, the team championship went to the school that embodied the team spirit best this year.

Where to next: Chihaya and Arata, and Taichi

The reunion was short-lived, interrupted by the presentation ceremony. When Chihaya rushes back outside to ask Taichi why he’d come back, she finds that he’d decided to go home instead of staying to cheer for them. Was this perhaps why I saw a number of “Taichiiiiii!!!” reactions a few weeks ago? But before leaving, Taichi finds Arata sitting alone, obviously feeling down. Taichi knows how he feels, and he takes a seat beside him and moves to pat his back. But then he stops and just shifts slightly closer, without saying a word. None are needed. And soon he is gone. But he leaves behind a message, echoing the one that Arata had left two years before: “Next time, I’ll see you in a match.” One or two hours before, seeing the Queen talk about her love for the game had only seen him spiralling deeper into despair… But again echoing the events two years prior, this time, it was Chihaya and Arata who brought Taichi back. The chapter ends with Taichi rocking up to the Tokyo Uni karuta club again, and greeting the cards just as Shinobu does. As Suetsugu noted, whilst this national tournament was in many ways an end full of regrets, it was also the start of something new.

There are so many other things that can be said about these chapters. But the main thing I want to touch on is the match. When I first flipped through these chapters, back when they first came out, I thought that there were some interesting parallels to the match between Chihaya and Taichi at the last Yoshino tournament. Back then, Chihaya was surprised at how different Taichi seemed to be, and now, we have Arata being surprised at the Chihaya sitting across from him. But now that I’ve spent so much time reflecting on what happened, it’s clear that these parallels are rather superficial. More than anything, I feel that both matches were used to illustrate problematic aspects of Chihaya’s character; the first highlighted how blind she had been to one of the closest friends, and the second showed her overcompensating in her efforts to deal with consequences arising from that flaw. Perhaps this is an overly harsh reading of Chihaya, but I honestly feel that both matches have, on balance, presented her in a negative light.

In terms of the implications for the story, then, this was most definitely not the rematch that we—or Arata and Chihaya—wanted. I actually wonder what Arata would have done if Chihaya hadn’t come back when she did: would the match have ended in a similar way? In fact, the expression on his face made it seem like he had given up on something…almost as if he had been trying hard mostly because he’d wanted to bring her back to herself, and once that was achieved, he let his sadness and frustration at what had happened to their long awaited rematch come out. I mean, Chihaya probably doesn’t even remember that Arata took the “Se” card, which he’d wanted to take back from her for so long. So will we get another? I’m pretty certain we will: given how karuta has been used to represent relationships throughout this series, it’s unthinkable that we won’t see them in another match, but one with “Chiha” back on the field.

So I’ll look forward to that. Though not for quite a while, I expect!

And the other little things that caught my attention

The Matsubayashi brothers aren’t twins! They were just born in the same school year!! I really like the attitude of Hiro, the younger one. He seems to really like the team format, so I wonder if he’ll be the captain the following year (since there are no second years). Or will it be a double team with his brother? I felt really sad that he went up against Tamaru, because I wanted her to overcome that mental block she’d placed on herself and win. But at the same time, if there was anyone on Arata’s team that I’d have been happy to see winning, it would have been Hiro.

And something that caught my attention because it made me thinking about the craft of ‘writing’ as it relates to comics and manga. It’s really interesting how Suetsugu links Ohta (from Hokuo)’s “Stick at it, Tamaru!” through the Mizusawa mothers who are trying to tough it out sitting seiza to the arrival of the person who is most associated with ‘toughing things out’. This then shifts to most of Mizusawa somehow sensing that he has come. It’s an unexpected link-up—at least, I wouldn’t have thought to do it—but is it an example of writing that works because it successfully weaves apparently disparate threads together to drive home a particular point? Or did it not work for me because I noticed and it took me out of my immersion in the story?

Taichi’s one flaw: his handwriting’s awful (especially when compared to Arata’s)! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist — one of my favourite short manga stories did something along those lines as part of a joke omake ^^ —karice)

You know, it’s funny: even now, I get surprised looks when I tell people I’m traveling alone. Is it really that unusual in Japan for women and younger people to travel alone? ↩

Of course, the focus of the live-action films being on something similar might also be one of the main reasons behind my current line of thought — I’ve been mulling over these chapters for quite a while… ↩

17 Responses to Catching up on Chihayafuru: Poems 161-165

I have a some questions. Do you know what month is it now in Chihayafuru world? June or July?
Also when is the Yoshino tournament, Meijin and Queen Qualifiers and Meijin and Queen tournament. Thank you in advance ^_^

It’s late July, going by the dates of the real life National High School Tournament over the last few years. The regional tournaments always take place in June, if I’m not mistaken. Here’s a timeline of all the tournaments, according to this:

April — start of new school year
June (late?) — regional HS tournaments in each prefecture
July (late) — national HS tournament at Omi Jingu
October (early) — Yoshino Society Tournament
October (mid) — Meijin/Queen prelims
November (mid) — Meijin/Queen challenger finals in Tokyo
January (early) — Meijin/Queen matches at Omi Jingu

Hm…I thought it’d be another 2 years a little while ago (that’ll be about 40 chapters or so), but looking at the pace of these matches, it could really be up to another 3 years or more (~60 chapters). After all, we’ve got the Yoshino tournament, the qualifiers, the qualifier final and then the Queen/Meijin matches themselves. Whilst we’re not breezing through the rest of this national tournament, I don’t know if Suetsugu will be able to breeze through all of the above!

Thank you for your review Karice! I’ve always found it refreshing 😀 by the way, what do you think of Arata in these chapters? I know Chihaya’s at fault here for not even recognized her opponents -in this, Arata- but I think she did it unconsciously (still, that’s very rude of her). But that’s why when she came back to herself, she was actually happy “I can play karuta with Arata again”. But when Komano and Kana chan announced their first wins, Chihaya’s sense comes back. She’s not playing for herself, this is a team tournament. Her win is not only her win. So she fought tooth and nails until her win.

I found myself more flaws from Arata. Rather than being a captain, he’s more focus on Chihaya and only Chihaya. Not even thinking of what his team mates do in their matches. And he even blame the faults on Taichi, because of him (I took it from TDX translation; (Why weren’t you here! It was the long awaited nationals! and yet, Chihaya had to only play in them as the captain!) I mean, this is a team tournament. Chihaya IS the captain of Mizusawa. Taichi’s at fault, true, but it’s really not his place to say that. For me, his anger is more like a personal anger, “because of you I couldn’t play chihaya as chihaya” since in their match, he was trying all his best to get chihaya’s attention. that’s why he apologized to Taichi, he knew he was wrong. And I know someone has to reprimand taichi for leaving the club that way, very true again, but it really is not Arata’s place to say that. Anyway, that’s why he apologized too for that.

And about
But again echoing the events two years prior, this time, it was Chihaya and Arata who brought Taichi back.
I don’t want to regress taichi to team chihayafuru only, so I’ll say the one who brought taichi back is chihaya, mizusawa, and arata. everyone dear for him. That’s why mizusawa was also there when the message shown. (it’s different with arata, the one brought him back to karuta was indeed-only chihaya and taichi that time). What do you think?

For me, these chapters showed us many of arata’s flaws. That’s why in the next few chapters I’m looking forward for his personal growth.. Looking forward to your next review!

Hm…I guess I do gloss over Arata’s behaviour in these chapters. Part of it is probably that I unconsciously put it off for the next lot of chapters (because Suetsugu does go back to it in more detail there). But part of it is also that I do see Chihaya’s behaviour as being a major issue. I’m glad she came back, and I think that Mizusawa winning 5-0 in some ways vindicates her dedication to the team over the last few years. But I still see this tournament as problematising Chihaya’s ‘all or nothing’ tendencies. I do think that seeing the films before rereading these chapters more carefully played a part in my interpretation, too. But there was just so much in them, and I really really wish I hadn’t been traveling whilst trying to review them! For example, I’ve just looked up some of the cards where Taichi returns to the Tokyo Uni club to play against Suou, and one of them was #25 Nanashi, the Meijin card! Some of the others were also really interesting!

But again echoing the events two years prior, this time, it was Chihaya and Arata who brought Taichi back.
I don’t want to regress taichi to team chihayafuru only, so I’ll say the one who brought taichi back is chihaya, mizusawa, and arata. everyone dear for him. That’s why mizusawa was also there when the message shown. (it’s different with arata, the one brought him back to karuta was indeed-only chihaya and taichi that time). What do you think?

Sure, that’s a reasonable reading of the way those scenes progressed. I guess I focus on the Arata-Chihaya match because hearing about it from his mum is clearly the reason Taichi decided to rush to Omi Jingu. But you’re right that the 5-0 win over Arata’s school probably gave Taichi heart as well, even if Chihaya’s own win over Arata was a huge part of that.

Looking forward to Arata’s discussion on the next chapters, thanks! 😀 wow about the Nanashi card, interesting! I do think Taichi is finally free from his self-doubts, that he would never surpass Arata even if he spends his whole youth on it. Chihaya proved it, that she could, defeat Arata through hard-work, the so-called “karuta god” for her, even though it’s not in her usual self. But your findings about cards are sure very interesting!

True, probably 5-0 gave taichi heart, but my main reason is not that. It’s proving that his beliefs are so wrong. Taichi said it before, some of his corrosive beliefs:
1. If he ever admitted to such a thing (that he doesn’t like Karuta) then he wouldn’t be able to stay by their side anymore
2. he couldn’t go back, not after the way he left, despite its president. he doesn’t belong to mizusawa karuta club anymore
But when he saw them directly, they proved it wrong. He’s still a part of Mizusawa karuta club, he belongs to them. They have given a place for him to return, even after he left that way. That’s why in the last page, he was “I will advance forward, and I will meet you (all) with the same determination” That’s my interpretation of it, though..

And.. I don’t really think Taichi was deaf to suou’s advice.. It’s because of him remembering that advice that he called his mother, one of his forgotten blessings. If anything, that words hit him hard and touched him, after his again self-pity “I couldn’t be like them” after seeing the meijin and the queen’s differences.. just a different perception, I think 🙂

Thanks Karice for your review. I didnt see Chihaya in a negative light. I think she was working so hard, that all her attention, concentration and energy were put to being the captain. She definitely needed to learn what being a captain, truely means; and this was her last chance. So i thought she did well, she wasn’t used to doing this at all, but she did it! it’s like when you first learn to ride a bike: no looking around you and having fun looking at the scenery. You have to concentrate on what is essential, till you learn how to do it automaticly. Personally i think Arata totally misunderstood her, he might have been better off taking her example and concentrating on his own role.

Oh, Arata’s behaviour is definitely problematic. I did touch on it a bit in the last lot of chapters, and will also be writing more about it for the next lot. I just can’t say that Chihaya was presented entirely in a positive light, either (especially with the kicker that’s revealed in the next chapter). But that’s my personal reaction—and I may indeed be wrong in the sense that my reading may not be what Suetsugu intends us to take from these developments. But I think it’s good that we all see different things in these chapters ^^

i need to get back into reading chihayafuru, everytime i do i get flashbacks of that card with the waves and the rock and it hurts soo much. I don’t think i can get back into the series in earnest until i know suetsugu has either resolved the love triange with arata winning etc or making taichi not obviously the 2nd choice. It’s gonna take a while but i think this says how much this manga has affected me.

I also agree with someone above, personally i find Arata’s character the worst in the manga, he’s actually your typical whiny shounen male lead but the glasses and tall black hair make him not seem like it. Chihaya has some character flaws and she is properly being raked over the coals for it, and Taichi is of course gonna get shit for his attitude in this tournament. But it seems that Arata can do no wrong and that is my only current gripe, if you wanna make a character miserable you should be an equal opportunity miserable maker Suetsugu sensei!

Well, I certainly understand the feeling. Over the last year, my own interaction with the series has been similar in that sense — because the developments hurt, I find myself no longer doing what I used to do every time a new chapter came out: searching for spoilers and reviewing the chapter. It does give me more time to look at other things I’ve become interested in, though, so I can’t say it’s a huge loss ^^

But I do hope Suetsugu-sensei picks up the pace soon, so that you can feel comfortable reading it again sooner rather than later!

Do you want the romance to be settled already?
I read some people were complaining about how it gets dragged for long. Like One chapter Chihaya will be all over Arata, next it will be about Taichi, then Arata again and then Taichi again.
And they felt like it’s not good since there are other ways to make this manga interesting other than dragging the romance part.
What’s your opinion about this?

Sorry… I know that I’ve been asking you a lot lately. I am still new in Chihayafuru and so there are still a lot of things I don’t know and don’t understand… and I have no one to ask except you. There’s a debate going on about who really became a Class A player first it is Arata or Chihaya?

Sorry for the late reply — for some reason, your comment was sent to the spam queue, and I only just noticed it.

Yeah, I’m fairly certain that was the certificate Arata had for winning the Fukui B-Class tournament when he was in his final year of JHS. I can’t remember where they are, but there are scenes with one of his JHS classmates (Shōji, IIRC) where the latter celebrates getting to Class A first. So Arata got there the day his grandfather died, which would have been before Chihaya won. (NB: this is different in the films.)